JIL GIBSON & JAN BERRY - IT'S AS EASY AS 1 2 3-1964.wmv

Jill Gibson (born June 18, 1942, Los Angeles, California) is an American singer, songwriter and artist. She is mostly known for having once briefly been a member of the famous 1960s rock group The Mamas & the Papas.Jill Gibson was studying at University High School in Los Angeles, California when she met Jan Berry of Jan & Dean fame in 1959. The two became an item for the next seven years. Together, Gibson and Berry wrote over a dozen songs and through Berry, Gibson began to get more involved with the music scene. Eventually she began composing songs with other known songwriters such as Don Altfeld, George Tipton and Roger Christian, a Los Angeles-based radio disc jockey who also wrote with Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys.

In 1962 Jan Berry decided to create a female answer to Jan & Dean called Judy & Jill, featuring Jill Gibson with Dean Torrence's girlfriend Judy Lovejoy. Demo recordings such as "Come On Baby" (written by Gibson & Lovejoy), "Eleventh Minute" (written by Gibson & Altfeld), "Just For Tonight", and "Baby What's It Gonna Be" were cut and produced by Berry for Liberty Records. Gibson performed most of the leads on these unreleased demos. However, nothing really happened with the Judy & Jill recordings, and Gibson soon was providing background vocals on several Jan & Dean album cuts. During this same time Gibson was studying visual arts at the University of California at Los Angeles.

In 1963, Gibson appeared on the Jan & Dean track "Surf Route 101", and a year later she performed backing harmony on a song she wrote with Don and Horace Altfeld called "When It's Over" for a Jan & Dean album. She then recorded two vocal duets with Berry that she had written with Don Altfeld that year, "It's As Easy As 1,2,3" and "A Surfer's Dream". Both of these tracks appeared as album cuts on two different Jan & Dean albums, released in 1964.

Jill Gibson released her first solo recording in 1964, a single of a cover version of her own song "It's As Easy As 1,2,3" which was backed with "Jilly's Flip Side", written by P.F. Sloan and issued on Imperial Records. Both tracks were produced and arranged by Jan Berry. Gibson also sang backup on the Jan & Dean hit "Ride The Wild Surf".

In July 1965, a hit song Jill had co-written with Berry and Roger Christian, called "You Really Know How To Hurt A Guy", peaked at #27 for Jan & Dean on the Billboard singles chart.

By the time Jill sang vocals on the last studio album recording of Jan & Dean's, recorded in early 1966 and titled Jan & Dean Meet Batman, Gibson and Berry's personal relationship was coming to an end. When the album was released in March 1966, the pair had already gone their separate ways but still remained friends. Shortly after the breakup, Jan Berry was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident on April 12, 1966, which he survived. During Berry's long difficult road toward recovery, he was often visited by Jill Gibson while he was in the hospital. Afterwards Jill began dating Lou Adler, whom she had known since 1959 when he was the executive producer and manager of Jan Berry and Dean Torrence. Adler had recently separated from his wife, actress and singer Shelley Fabares.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• JIL
• GIBSON
• JAN
• BERRY
• IT'S
• AS
• EASY
• 3-1964

[malbakrouge]

Great song. i'm a french fan of Jan and Dean and it's always a pleasure to listen to such catchy pop tune (ok here it's "jan and jill").

[raredoowop]

@malbakrouge IT'S MY PLEASURE AND THANK YOU,,

[peeterpoon]

One of my favorite J&D songs. Great vocals by Jan & Jill. I have a feeling that Dean sat this one out.

[raredoowop]

@peeterpoon IT'S MY PLEASURE AND THANK YOU,,

[LordRufus]

Thank you for posting this. I have this on a Jan & Dean compilation album. It's such a nice pop song.

[raredoowop]

@LordRufus ..it's my pleasure..

[lonehorseman09]

dean hated Y.RK.H.T.H.A.G. so he left the studio and sang lead on Barbara Ann.

[raredoowop]

@Kell0526 ..it's my pleasure..

[Kell0526]

Great song! It was the B-Side of the "You Really Know How To Hurt A Guy" 45.

Thanks

Bill K